Lately...

Sorry I disappeared for most of September, I was really busy between filming YouTube covers (I'll explain more), reading, and work. So here's what I've been up to...

• I saw Taylor Swift live for the third time! In anticipation of the show, I started a countdown that I crossposted on Instagram and YouTube, 30 days worth of Taylor Swift covers. I managed to cover 40 songs (lots of mashups made this happen), and it was a fairly easy project, because I basically taught myself how to play guitar through learning Taylor Swift songs, and it was a lot of fun to revisit those songs.
• I went to the Texas Teen Book Fest this past weekend, I'll be sharing more on the books that I got signed and the authors I met. 
• I've been trying to read a lot, I mentioned in my last post that there are a lot of new releases lately and I've also been doing a lot of rereading since a lot of last books in series are coming out. 
• Fawkes is no longer a puppy, he turned two was last month and it's to comprehend how long I've had him. 
• I just purchased tickets to watch a WWC qualifying match, and I'm really excited to see my faves, the USWNT, soon.

So that's what's happened lately, since I'm no longer focused on filming a cover video everyday, I can return to my regular blogging schedule. - Jessica

Thoughts While Rereading Harry Potter

I've mentioned lately how I've slowly been making my way through rereading the Harry Potter series. I wanted to reread the series this summer for a number of reasons; it's the 20th anniversary of the publication of the first book, I haven't read the series in its entirety since 2011, and the events of the epilogue take place next month. Rereading the series is an absolute joy because I still love it as much as the first time, plus there are so many details that I had forgotten about the books. I'm not entirely done with rereading the series but I've had so many thoughts about the reread that I wanted to share...

• I've been splitting my time between reading physical copies of the books and listening to the audiobooks. I'm listening to the American editions and Jim Dale does a great job, but some of his voices for the characters and pronunciations is not how I hear them in my head. 
• There are so many elements that I wish would have been in the movies: McGonagall's sass towards Umbridge, Luna Lovegood's quidditch commentary in book 6, the Marauder's backstory...
• I don't understand why Snape was allowed to treat his students so terribly and bully them, he's really no better than Umbridge. 
• GOF was my favorite as a kid and it still is (but it competes with POA some of the time)
• I never noticed how prominent the foreshadowing for horcruxes is in all of the books, I noticed it especially in GOF.
• Just the level of details that JKR put into each book is astonishing. 
• Even the foreshadowing for the prophesy in PS/SS that comes up again in OOTP. 
• And the character development is amazing (Draco, Neville...).
• McGonagall has become my favorite character of this reread. I always admired her as a character but she is a total hero. Just everything about her in OOTP is amazing. (Hermione is still my fave of all time though).
• The Marauder's storyline is still my favorite side plot in the novels, and if JKR ever decides to write their story, I would be the happiest person alive. 
• Harry James Potter. He's put through so much in the novels and he doesn't deserve any of them. 
• The part in COS where Tom states how Harry and him look similar freaked me out. It's crazy how they are both so similar and so different. 
• Dumbledore's sense of humor is his best quality, and it is severely lacking in the movies. 
• I'm always torn about liking Dumledore's character. I think the had Harry's best intentions in mind but I don't know if he went about them the right way, especially how he treated Harry's life like it was a game. 
• Any time Fantastic Beasts is mentioned I get really excited. I love reading about the creatures now that I've seen them on screen. 
• I wish we could have gotten more of Harry and Sirius' interactions. Their interactions have been some of my favorite moment in the reread as they had such a close connection.
• When I was reading the series as a kid, I never noticed how much injustice there is in the Wizarding World. Especially when it comes to creatures and half creatures. I've had this picture of the Wizarding World and Hogwarts as a utopia, but seeing it in this light has made the world feel even more real to me. 

Hopefully some of my rambling made sense. I just really love reading my favorite series and I wanted to share some of my thoughts. - Jessica 

Ten Years Ago

It's crazy to think about how Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out 10 years ago today, and how I spent the whole day reading the ending to my favorite series of all time. It's really crazy for me to think about how I'm just as obsessed with the series as I was when I was 12 years old and standing in line waiting for my copy at midnight.

This 21st, I'm going to be spending the day making my way through rereading the series. I'm currently working my way through the second book. Happy book birthday HP7! - Jessica

Piano Playing Away

Playing music is one of my favorite hobbies, but I regrettably don't have a lot of time to practice. Because of life in general, I don't get to play as much as I'd like, but I love when I'm listening to music and I come across a song that I know that I have to learn. Those are the moments that make me excited to play, and it's times like those that I really wish that I could find the motivation to practice every day.

My keyboard has always been in the living room, and I finally moved it into my room last week and I have been able to play so much. Last week, I got Paramore's new album After Laughter and I have slowly been learning songs from it. I'm really grateful for summer vacation and having the time to practice. A similar thing happened over spring break, a little after Ed Sheeran's new album came out and I learned a couple of the songs on guitar. So here's some random rambling about how much I have missed playing music. - Jessica

Recently...

At least once during the semester, I always get overloaded with schoolwork and I don't really have the motivation to blog as much. It's a little scary that all this is happening towards the beginning of the semester, but my goal is to graduate in December and I'm going to have to power through (maybe one day I'll make a post about how I stay sane in college). But anyways moving on, here's what has been happening recently between school and work...

• I've been trying to read as much as possible (in my little free time) and stay on track of my reading goal. Right now, I just started A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab.
• I'm still one of those nerds who still plays Pokemon Go and the app has again consumed my life now that Gen II has come out. And just in case you were wondering, I'm still trying to catch two Pokemon from Gen I (Areodactyl and Lapras).
• I finally saw La La Land the other day but there are still a handful of other movies that I need to see as well. 
• My family got another corgi puppy (pictured above), her name is Luna and she's really my dad's dog. 

So here's what has been happening in my life lately. I've got a fairly light load of coursework this week and I'm hoping on catching up on blogging. - Jessica 

Lately...

I didn't mean to but I took two week break from the blog because of how busy I've been lately and I thought I would share what I've been doing in that time. So lately I...

• ... turned 21!
• ... started my summer class. 
• ... have been playing Pokemon Go non stop. I need to catch them all guys!
• ... went to Ikea and got myself some new bookshelves (as pictured above). I plan to do a full post next week showing off my new shelves. 
• ... haven't been reading as much as I like (mostly due to the whole Pokemon Go addiction I've developed), but I did catch up on reading the Falling Kingdom series that I started a couple months ago so I'll be posting my opinions on the last two books early next month. 
• ... am trying to get caught up on Shadowhunters, I'm on episode 6 and it is a little cheesy and not as good as the books but I'm hoping that the show will get better. I also saw Swiss Army Man in theaters and even though it was a little crazy, it was a really entertaining movie. 

So that's the gist of what has happened the last two weeks. Another reason I wasn't posting is that for the past couple of months I've been in a blogging slump but hopefully that will turn around soon, but for now I have some homework to do *sigh*. - Jessica  

PTX World Tour Experience

I think I've blogged about Pentatonix enough on here for people to know that they are one of my favorite groups. I saw them last week on their world tour and it was my fourth time seeing them live. They're one of my favorite groups to see live, because they sound exactly like studio recordings. I never blogged about a single concert before but I decided as a celebration for a great night and for my 100th blog post I would.

My friend and I had meet and greet VIP upgrades so we showed up early to meet the band. We showed up so early that we actually ended up as the 3rd and 4th people in line, which was crazy and I was dangerously close to freaking out. Side note: last year for the On My Way Home tour I got meet and greet passes and while I was getting the autographs, I freaked out and just proceeded to stare at them attempting not to cry. For the photo, I knew I wanted to be beside Mitch and I got squished a little by his jacket, it was great. So this year was infinitely better, I actually managed to have a conversation with all of them, although I did ramble a little in front of Mitch.

^^This photo is terrible quality but proof of me talking to my fave, Mitch Grassi!

A photo posted by Jessica (@7remedies) on May 8, 2016 at 3:47pm PDT

I got my vinyl sleeve of their self titled album signed and I'm still debating on how I'm going to display it, along with the poster and lament badge I got for meeting them.

For the concert, my friends and I had general admission tickets on the floor and our goal was to get as close as possible on the barrier on the right side of the stage, closer to where Mitch would be. Which is exactly where we ended up, there was so much anxiety between my friend and I over how we would get there, and we did end up running as soon as we were let in. The actual show was fantastic, Us the Duo opened and they were so talented and fun to watch. Pentatonix was absolutely perfect as always, it's so cool to watch as they have moved from YouTube videos to doing shows in front of 10,000+ people. So here's some of the photos I got during the show, they're all taken with my phone so the quality isn't great, but I did managed to get some great shots. 

A video posted by Jessica (@7remedies) on May 9, 2016 at 7:40pm PDT

^^^I got some good videos from the show, this one is obviously my favorite because look at the perfect position I was in to get this of Mitch. This is the best video I got because unfortunately I was right next to a girl that was screaming the lyrics and that is what you can hear the most in the recordings.

Regardless the concert was so much fun and my friends and I are already planning to do a repeat when they bring the show to Dallas or Houston later this year. Pentatonix is just one of those groups that I have to see every single time they come close enough - Jessica

Finding Time To Read

When I transferred schools this semester I honestly thought that I wouldn't have any time to read. Although I'm dealing with more schoolwork I have had plenty of time to read, and I've been reading at the same pace I was last year when I was only going to school and working part time. So I decided to put together some tips that I use for finding time to read and also reading more books.

1. Always carry a book with you.
I always make sure to bring a book with me to school or download an ebook to read from the library. That way I know I have the option to read during the day when I have some spare moments, when I have some time in between classes or when I'm on break at work. This way I'll know that if I'm not being the most productive with my time, I can just open up a book.

2. Designate certain times to read during your day.
For me this is usually at the end of the day, right before I go do bed. Sometimes I can get a lot of reading done (and loose track of time so that I'm reading at like 2am) and other days I read like 15 pages before I fall asleep. Some people read in the mornings, but whichever time works for you.

3. Ebooks and Audiobooks. 
Overdrive is one of my absolute most used apps on my phone, it's an app that allows you to check out ebooks and audiobooks from your local library. Most of the time I don't want to carry a physical book with me but I always have my phone of me. Sometimes I will download the physical book that I'm reading or a completely different book. I'v also started to get into audiobooks during my commute. The trick to reading more with audiobooks is to set them faster, I usually set my speed at 1.5x.

4. Read multiple books at once.
I know this tip isn't for everybody, but I have found that I can get more reading done if I'm reading multiple books. I usually have different formats, like right now I'm reading Ruin and Rising for my physical book, The Book Theif on audio, and Persuasion on ebook.

So those are my tips to reading more on a busy schedule. I hope some of these help you guys and if you have any tips please let me know! - Jessica

Bookish Goals & Lists For 2016

For the past two years I've had a renewed interest in reading. After I read the Harry Potter series when I was a child I became hooked on reading books and I spent a good chunk of my time reading. That all stopped when I entered high school, because I was so busy with school work and getting actual jobs that I hardly read anything that wasn't required reading. Last year my New Year's Resolution was to read more books, and I succeeded by reading a total of 120 books. This year I'm going to be so busy with school but I still have a lot of reading goals. I mentioned in my December wrap up that I'm tentatively setting my reading goal at 70 books. Obviously I would love to read more than that and at least try to attempt to surpass last year's goal. I've already read 13 books so far (but 9 of those books are quick and easy to read Sailor Moon mangas) so maybe I'll get close to reaching it!

I've had a bit of a book buying problem lately and I have a lot of books on my shelf that I haven't read. Some are books that I've been looking forward to reading and just haven't gotten around to and others are books that have sat unread on my shelves for a while. So here are a list of the books that I intent to finally read in 2016:

1. Jane Austen collection - I have been slowly collecting all of Jane Austen's book in the lovely Vintage Classic editions designed by Leanna Shapton. I have been obsessed with these covers ever since I discovered them and now that I finally have all of them I can't wait to read them. I have never read any of Jane Austen's book and I really want to read more classic books in the future.

2. The Grisha Trilogy and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo - I have heard a lot of mixed things about The Grisha Trilogy and a lot of great things about Six of Crows. I'm not entirely sure what these books are about other then the fact that they are fantasy books that take place in the same world, but are separate stories that can be read individually. Despite what I've heard about The Grisha Trilogy I bought all of Bardugo's books and I'm looking forward to reading them sometime this year.

3. Forgive Me if I've Told You This Before by Karelia Stetz-Waters - This is a coming of age story surrounding an outcast girl in a small town who is struggling with bullying and her sexuality. Every single review that I've seen on Goodreads and Amazon has praised this book and I really don't know why I've been putting of reading it but this year I will.

4. The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi - This is a book series that I have wanted to read since the movie came out in 2008 and I never got around to it. I recently purchased the whole series and all of the books are under 200 pages so I'm hoping to finally get to them this year. Overall I really want to read middle grade series because there are so many that have come out since I was younger or that I haven't read.

5. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - This is a historical fiction novel that takes place in France during WWII. I have heard nothing but good things about this book (and it's won so many awards). I'm really not sure why I haven't read it but it will happen this year and I really want to read more adult fiction this year.

6. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson - This is a graphic novel and from what I gather it centers around villians and dragons. It sounds awesome and I have been wanting to get into reading graphic novels and this book seems like the perfect place to start.


Along with all the books that I want to finally get around to in 2016 there are so many books that I'm looking forward to coming out this year. Most of the books I'm anticipating are sequels or new books/series by authors that I love.

Links from left to right: 01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

And these are all just the books that have covers, there still the fifth Land of Stories book. J.K. Rowling should have two books coming out this year, although they haven't been announced yet, I'm hoping the fourth Cormoran Strike book (but seriously J.K. Rowling has been working on Fantastic Beasts and the Cursed Child so I'm overly optimistic about this one) and the second illustrated Harry Potter book will come out later this year. And then there's the fifth Throne of Glass book that scheduled to come out in September (fingers crossed that this keeps the September 9th release date). And theres so many books that I know I'm forgetting, I'm overwhelmed with how many good books are coming out this year.

And that just about covers my reading goals for this year! I'm probably overly optimistic with these goals, I have a good feeling that I'm not going to be able to get to every single book on this list, but I hope I can! - Jessica

Thank You Harry...

When I was 8, my mom insisted that I needed to read and I reluctantly picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the first time. At the time I didn't care for reading, but my attitude towards reading changed when I read that book. I became enchanted by the universe that J.K. Rowling had created and I was completely hooked. I quickly read through the rest of the books and eagerly waited for the last two books to be released. Reading Harry Potter really ignited my passion for reading, and it's something that has stuck with me today.

I was a quiet kid, but I stared talking about Harry's story and that helped me open up and find friends. As I got older Harry became one of my closest friends and I carried him as I grew up. Harry Potter really defined my childhood, and we both grew up together. I was 8 when I first started reading the series, 12 when the last book came out, and 16 when the last movie came out. Harry is somebody that I've shared many experiences with. Any time I was feeling down, I would open one of his books and be transported into a world of spells and potions. I was able to learn so much about love, bravery, and acceptance through reading him. I fell in love with so many of the characters and absolutely hated others, I was (and still am) so passionate about the story.

I can honestly say that reading Harry Potter changed my life. It's had a huge impact on me, and I don't know what type of person I would be if I hadn't have connected with his story. It's something that I'm constantly inspired by, and I still love learning new things about the Wizarding universe. I have so many fond memories of midnight releases, reading each book for the first time, the countless times I've reread each book, visiting the Wizarding World and trying Butterbeer for the first time. I'm especially proud of being voted "Most Likely to go to Hogwarts" during Orchestra superlatives, and placing 3rd out of 98 teams in Harry Potter trivia. Even though Harry's story is "over," I've still stuck with him after all these years and I plan on sticking with him for the rest of my life. So to wrap up all my feelings, thank you J.K Rowling and Harry Potter for everything. - Jessica

high school graduate

Early this month I officially graduated high school! I can't stress how excited I was to finally be done with high school and some of my peers. But as excited as I was to leave high school behind, I was sad to leave a place where I met many of my friends and the safety net I had established there.

A few weeks ago, I posted this mini-diary on my tumblr, along with the following two photos I took of downtown Austin on my way to prom.

I took these a few weeks back when we were on our way to prom in my friends dad's fancy car. I'm going to graduate next week and I've been struck by a few waves of nostalgia. It's crazy how fast this year has flown by and I will admit that apart of me doesn't want to let high school go. I've spent the past 4 years wanting to escape high school but now that I'm so close to the end, I want to hold on for a little bit longer.

So in honor of the conclusion of my last year of high school, I'd like to reminisce the best parts of my senior year; I was an orchestra officer and I somehow ended up as section leader of my orchestra for the whole year. At the end of my junior year, I was inducted into FHS (French Honor Society) and I was elected historian (even though we hardly did anything that required picture taking). I somehow managed to ace all my classes despite my laziness and lack of motivation. I discovered a passion for playing the piano and my new 50mm lens inspired me to take more pictures. I was dragged to prom by my friends and I ended up having a good time. Freshman year, my friends introduced me to Darren Criss he quickly became my biggest inspiration, on my last day of high school I had the pleasure of meeting him and it was like my high school life finally completing a full circle. 

Farewell high school. Here's to see what road life will take me...